


Right in front of me

by LessonsFromMoths



Series: Haikyuu vs Zombies [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Amputation, But I don't recommend it, Can be read as a stand alone, Companion Piece, First Meetings, Flirting, It's better in context, M/M, Strangers to Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26674765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LessonsFromMoths/pseuds/LessonsFromMoths
Summary: Sugawara Koushi is about to give up and die when someone grabs his hand and yells,"Run!"
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Series: Haikyuu vs Zombies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928431
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39





	Right in front of me

**Author's Note:**

> WOW this took so much longer than I thought it would lol. Mostly because it was only meant to be like 2k and it is now...7k....I just....
> 
> Aaaaanyways to anyone who is new here this is the Daisuga companion piece to my Bokuaka Zombie Apocalypse AU (check out the series if you'd like!). Can be read as a stand-alone, makes a lot more sense if you read the main story first. 
> 
> Fic song is [I Found](https://youtu.be/DqoVhwMDoK4) by Amber Run!
> 
> EXTREMELY Un-beta'd, but please enjoy anyways!

_7 months A.O. (after outbreak)_

Honestly, Suga’s day could be going better. Who is he kidding, his entire apocalypse could be going better. But at this point, nothing really tops your entire family being killed and then reanimated and then chasing after you like you’re dinner. Compared to that, this is cake. But that’s beside the point, because compared to his life before, his day could definitely be going better. 

Minato is supposed to be...well, not safe, but at least a little less inhabited. Suga hadn’t expected the sheer number of looters in the area and he’s feeling wildly unprepared. He and his tailpipe were seriously not ready for the amount of violence Minato has brought them. And now his seemingly endless stupidity has brought him here: crouched in the back of a too-small car with too many layers on top of him and too many angry people outside of the car, searching for him. 

“I think he went this way!” A voice right next to his car shouts, and Suga tightens his grip on the tailpipe, even as the blood on it trickles down to soak his hands. It’s probably poetic, but right now Suga’s too afraid for his own life to think about that. 

He squeezes his eyes shut as he prays that they don’t find him, but when he closes his eyes all he can see are the ghosts, so he wrenches them open again out of fear. He doesn’t want to see the ghosts. Suga feels like a coward, unable to even close his eyes, but he merely stares at the ceiling of the car, tears slipping from his eyes and running back into his hair as he lies as still as he can on the ratty backseat cushions. He can’t be weak now. Not when he’s so far from Karasuno, so close to death. 

_“LOOK OUT!”_ He hears someone outside exclaim, and their warning is followed by screams of pain and terror. He doesn’t need to look to know what’s happening: they’re being eaten alive. Suga listens with a sickening lump crawling its way up his throat as they’re torn apart. The world has been like this for what feels like years (has it really only been six or so months?) and he still can’t bear to hear the sounds of others suffering. Fuck the end of the world. It fucking sucks.

Suga counts to five thousand before finally stirring, pushing off the debris from his lap and slowly sitting up in the backseat of the car. The screams stopped after second 300, so he figures everyone is either dead or has fled. He peeks out the back window but can’t see any movement, so he quietly grips his backpack and emerges from the car, looking around cautiously. If there’s one thing he’s learned about the end of the world, it’s that things can change quickly, usually when you’re least expecting --

“Run!” A voice to his left yells out, and Suga turns to see a dark-haired man sprinting towards him. The man barrels into him, grabbing his arm before pulling Suga with him. Suga subconsciously grabs onto his forearm until they’re locked in a grip, Suga’s left arm and the stranger’s right. Behind them is an entire hoard, their mouths gaping and their moans bouncing off of the surrounding buildings and cars. Oh shit.

Suga finds that he’s faster than the stranger, but they don’t let go of each other’s arms as they rush through the streets of Tokyo, dodging car doors and fallen bodies. He’s doing fine until he trips and falls flat on his face, losing his grip on the stranger. He’s ready to give up, to just lay there and die, and maybe this stranger can make it out if they stop to eat Suga….

He feels a hand on his shoulder. “Stand up.” The stranger is looking at him, his eyes intense and other hand outstretched. Suga takes the proffered hand and lets himself be yanked up and they continue running, taking a side street to try and make it harder for the zombies to come after them.

“I don’t suppose you have a plan?” Suga pants as they sprint between two shiny-looking buildings, both of them spattered with blood and curtained by broken glass. 

The stranger sends him a wicked smile. “A plan? Don’t die!” 

Suga laughs despite himself, then pulls the stranger into one of the shiny buildings, noticing a door. They tumble through the doorway, slamming the door behind them and catching their breath as they warily eye each other.

“Should I be thanking you or cursing you?” Suga asks, raising his eyebrows at the stanger. To the delight of his already overworked heart, the stranger smiles. And -- oh gods -- he has dimples. And they’re fucking adorable. Suga is very aware that he hasn't been... _intimate_ with anyone in over a year, and of course his body and brain choose _now_ to be horny.

“I did save you from the initial hoard, but I also think I caused the initial hoard.” He makes a face at himself before the grin returns. “So I guess cursing me, if that’s your sort of thing.”

Suga hums, wiping his still-bloody hand on his pants. “Not really. Thanks for grabbing me back there. I think I would have been too surprised to move.” 

The stranger shrugs. “Anytime.”

“Any time?”

The stranger’s brown eyes meet his. “Any time,” he says deliberately. Suga will never reveal just how much he enjoys the way the stranger is looking at him, like he’s a pretty figure in an antique store that the other man wasn’t expecting to find, but is delighted that he did. 

“So do I get a name from you, or just a rescue?” Suga was a huge flirt before. He thinks this is still flirting. He kind of hopes it is. He wonders if the man will return his interest: What better time to secure a boyfriend than the end of the world, right?

“Daichi,” he says simply, leaning against the wall and crossing his ankles. Daichi has a backpack much like Suga does, and he holds it dangling by his side. His arm muscles flex with its weight. He detaches a walking stick covered in blood from the backpack, and the sound it makes when he hits it against the floor echoes around the room. 

“Daichi.” A simple, strong name. Suga thinks that it suits him. “Nice to meet you. I’m Suga.” 

“Suga,” Daichi repeats, much like he had, his mouth quirked into a strange smile. 

Suga turns away, for some reason suddenly uncomfortable. “So, do you have a group or something?” 

“Or something,” Daichi says. “As of two hours ago I had a group.”

“I’m sorr--” Suga starts, but Daichi shakes his head.

“They’re alive. I think. We just got separated. I’ve been looking for them, but it seems I found you instead.” Suga thinks that Daichi might be a little bit odd. He seems upset that his group is gone, but he’s still living in the present, ready to take whatever might come at him. Suga admires that, especially since he himself was ready to give up and die not even ten minutes ago. He decides to keep that little gem to himself. 

“You got a group?” Daichi nods his head towards Suga. They’re both still being cautious, but Suga thinks that Daichi might be someone he wants to traverse the apocalypse with, even if only for a little while. 

“A community,” Suga says. “I’m scouting out different parts of Tokyo for more resources.” 

“How long have you been out here?” Suga knows that Daichi is taking in the state of his clothes, the blood on his face, the sweat that soaks the bandana tied around his forehead. 

“A week or so. I keep running into bandits.” 

Daichi’s face darkens. “Yeah, they’re a real problem.” 

They’re silent. “So, uh, did you have a meet-up place with your friends?” Suga asks.

Daichi chuckles bitterly. “No, that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?” He looks at the ground and shakes his head in amused disbelief. “No. Last place we had a meet-up location was in Shibuya. I think the best thing I can do now is stay put in Minato and search for them whenever possible. Hopefully we’ll cross paths again.” 

Suga recognizes the set of Daichi’s mouth, the hopeful pain in his tone. “You care about them.” 

His expression crumples a little, but he sets his jaw and closes his eyes briefly before meeting Suga’s gaze. There’s an intensity there that makes Suga’s heart ache. “Very much so.” 

“Would you mind some company? Until you find them?” Suga holds his breath.

Daichi’s half-smile is answer enough, but Suga appreciates the accompanying words. “I think company would be nice.”

They quickly establish that they’re going to need to find shelter for the upcoming night. They still have a few hours until it starts to get dark, but Daichi looks just as hesitant as Suga feels about traversing around Tokyo in pitch blackness.

“It’s unnerving how dark it gets, isn’t it?” Suga asks as they pick their way down the empty street. There’s plenty of debris to avoid as they travel.

“I suppose,” Daichi says. “But I guess I’m kind of used to it. I grew up in the country, far from the lights of the city. A hundred thousand stars are a pretty good beacon.”

Suga tries to imagine it. He’s seen the stars since the apocalypse began, but they’re still a little hazy through all of the air pollution left over from when things started going bad and everything was on fire. He can’t picture being used to nights of nothing but inky blackness, only the small light provided by stars or the moon to light up your world. He’s used to the flashing lights of Tokyo, with its brightly colored signs and lit sidewalks and blinding car headlights. 

“What are you doing in Tokyo, then?” Suga asks.

Daichi winds back his walking stick and hits a zombie writhing on the ground as it grabs at his ankle. The blood from its head splatters his pant leg but he pays it no mind, wiping his weapon on the zombie’s decaying shirt. He lets out a huff of frustration when the shirt deteriorates in his hand. “I was going to university here,” he says, moving on to another body to wipe off his stick. This time, he succeeds. “My sisters were upset that I was leaving Miyagi. ‘What if something bad happens and you’re not here?’ Ayaka asked me before I left for university.” Daichi laughs bitterly. “I told her nothing bad was going to happen. And if it did, that I would come rushing back.” He shakes his head. “Now look at me. Fucking around in Tokyo looking for my friends who probably think I’m dead, while Ayaka, Megumi, and Eri are probably gone.” He squeezes his eyes shut, then laughs abruptly. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to unload all that.” 

“Don’t be sorry,” Suga says gently. “Not knowing is awful. I think worse than knowing.” 

Daichi side-eyes him. “Do you... _know?”_

Suga swallows thickly. He’s never talked about it. Asahi had guessed, but he’s never actually...yeah. “It was parent’s weekend,” Suga says. His throat stops the rest of the story from leaving his mouth. “But I know that they’re no longer suffering. I think that’s a kindness in itself.” 

Daichi nods. “I hope they aren’t in pain. My sisters. Sometimes I hope they’re dead, you know? And not scared and alone, waiting for their big brother to knock on the door and help them.” He shakes his head sharply, as if expelling the thought from his mind. “It’s easier not to think about it.” 

“I’m sorry, Daichi.” 

He looks over at Suga and smiles. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not the only one who’s lost people. It keeps me going, you know? Knowing that they might be out there. Or even hoping that they aren’t.” Daichi is quiet for a moment, eyes on the horizon. “I have to keep going on for them.” He suddenly stills. “There’s someone up ahead.”

“One of your friends?” 

Daichi's mouth pulls into a thin line. "No. Come on!" He dips into a wide alleyway between two buildings and leads them away from the figure. "What should we do?" He mutters out loud, his eyes flickering around quickly and methodically. Suga's insanely glad that he's with someone who can keep their head. He imagines he might be dead four times over if not for Daichi. 

"How do you feel about office buildings?" Daichi asks, his eyes trained on the skies. Suga follows his line of vision and sees what must be at least a 20-storied building with windows making up all four of the sides. 

"We'll be able to see everything," Suga grins. 

"Exactly. Let's hope we can make it there without any problems." 

Daichi's wish comes true as they approach the building twenty or so minutes later. They force their way inside using Daichi’s crowbar, which is helpful with the thick boards covering the doorways. Once they make it into the lobby, Suga claps a hand over his mouth and nose in disgust. 

“This definitely hasn’t been disturbed at all,” Daichi gags as they survey the room. It’s filled with dead bodies, and a few undead ones, but they’re all so emaciated they can’t even stand. They’ve noticed their new living visitors, but they merely gnash their teeth at Suga and Daichi from the ground, pitifully trying to crawl towards them. 

“Mercy them?” Suga asks. 

Daichi chews the inside of his lip in contemplation. “They’re a little loud. Might be helpful in case someone decides to pay us a visit.” He looks at Suga for confirmation, and Suga just nods. 

“Sounds good.” If he’s being honest, Suga likes that someone else is taking charge. Too often he’s the one making all of the decisions, and he doesn’t mind following Daichi as long as he can keep them alive. It’s not a matter of trust (he’d be insane to trust Daichi after only knowing him for the better part of an hour), but more a matter of necessity. 

They decide to head for higher ground, barricading stairwell doors behind them to trap others outside and trap themselves in. “Behind you!” Daichi yells, and Suga whirls around with his tailpipe first, smashing into the head of a zombie. It crumples and Suga turns back to Daichi, who’s a few steps higher than him.

“Thanks.” 

They move on up, having to skip quite a few floors because of the amount of zombies hanging out on them. Finally, once they get to the fourth floor, Daichi gives a low whistle. “Looks like there aren’t many. We should clear the floor and stay here tonight.”

“I’ll follow your lead,” Suga nods. Daichi walks into the room without a care, then quickly spins left and bashes the head of a zombie. The noise brings out a few more, and Suga goes to work with his tailpipe while Daichi destroys another one coming towards them. They clear the room quickly and effectively, pulling out the bodies and piling them in front of the door outside. “Could use an air freshener,” Suga jokes. 

Daichi takes a huge whiff. “True. Wish we could air it out. And shower,” Daichi sniffs himself too and then makes a face. 

“I do miss showers,” Suga laughs. 

They set up camp like that, speaking lightly and trying not to dwell on darker things. They spread out blankets and take swigs of water, laughing and joking. It makes Suga miss his family and friends, who are either dead or too far away. He sits next to his backpack, knees drawn up to his chest as he tinkers with his tailpipe. 

Daichi’s lips pull into a frown. “What’s wrong?” 

Suga avoids eye contact, embarrassed that his weakness is on display for this near-stranger. He can’t stop himself from asking, though. “Do you ever see them?”

“See who?”

“The people you’ve lost.” Suga’s voice cracks a little, and he clears it. He’s not going to cry. He’s not sure he has many tears left to spare for the dead.

Daichi sits next to him, his jeans crackling where dried blood has stiffened them. “I hear them, sometimes. Sometimes they whisper and sometimes they scream, begging me to show them mercy.” 

Suga swallows thickly, his gaze strongly focused on the ground. “I see them whenever I close my eyes. The ghosts.” 

He startles when he feels Daichi’s hand on his knee. “I don’t think they ever stop haunting us,” Daichi admits quietly. “But you never have to bear your ghosts alone. You have your community. Your friends that are still here. You have me.” He gives Suga a weak smile. “It’s the penance of being a survivor. We’re cursed to never forget the ones we’ve lost. We have to carry them now.” 

Suga laughs lightly, nudging Daichi’s shoulder with his. “What were you, some kind of philosopher?” 

“Hmm, I was taking a philosophy class,” Daichi ribs back, and the thickness that had settled in the room dissipates. “I can’t wait to see my friends again,” Daichi says. When Suga turns to look at him, he has a small smile on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. “There were eight of us, to start. We left the university when things got bad and started south to get to some water. We lost four along the way. I didn’t know them well,” Daichi says before Suga can interrupt. “But it still sucked. And then the four of us...we were strong. A good group. But things went down. I wish I could change the way things went in Shibuya. But I can’t. And we lost Bokuto. I can’t imagine what might have happened to him. He was strong, you know? Loyal. Lighthearted. When he disappeared, our group struggled. We tried to search for him. God, Kuroo was spray painting every surface he could find trying to call Bokuto back to us.” A single tear rolls down Daichi’s cheek.

“Daichi,” Suga doesn’t know what to say, but he knows he has to say _something._

Daichi quickly wipes at the tear, clearing his throat. “It’s fine. We’ve all lost people.” 

“So you keep reminding me. It doesn’t make it any easier,” Suga says.

Daichi takes a shaky breath and looks up at the ceiling. “It’s just -- he was so optimistic, you know? He was the battery that kept all of us charged up. Nothing phased the guy. We had a lot of fights after he…. Kuroo wanted to stay in Shibuya to keep looking, but Kenma and I eventually convinced him that we needed to start moving. Shibuya is completely overrun, with not a lot of places to escape to. So we came here to Minato. The last time Kenma saw Bokuto, he was still alive. So there’s hope. But….” Daichi suddenly laughs, which startled Suga. “Y’know, Kuroo hit me when I started using the past tense, punched me right in the face."

"Sounds like an interesting guy," Suga says. What kind of person punched someone that was in their own group? 

Daichi must hear something in his tone, because he chuckles again. "He was mad at me, thought it meant that I was giving up looking for Bokuto." Daichi shrugs good-naturedly. "Kuroo tries to pretend he's above caring, but I know the truth. He's a good guy." 

A good guy. Who also punched his friend in the face. Yeah, Suga might just have to take Daichi’s word for it. 

“So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Suga asks. 

Daichi pulls a small package of crackers from his bag and opens them. He offers one to Suga, who takes it gratefully. “I think I’ll try and go back to the place we got separated. Hopefully it isn’t too overrun and Kenma and Kuroo are looking for me there, too. But it’s not very safe.”

Suga munches the cracker, nodding. “We’ll just have to be careful. Do you recommend sticking to high ground?” 

Daichi pauses in his eating, looking over at Suga. “Suga, you know you don’t have to come with me, right? Things were seriously dicey today. It’d be a miracle if Kuroo and Kenma are alive. And I’m about to walk right back into that death trap. You’re under no obligation to join me.” 

Suga shoots him a reassuring smile, somewhere between flirty and disbelieving. “If it makes no difference to you, I don’t have anywhere else to go right now. I’d eventually like to make it back to Karasuno, my community, but for now I’d like to join you. And it sounds like you need the backup.”

“Thank you,” Daichi’s expression is sincere. 

“You know,” Suga says, “you could come back with me. If you wanted to. To Karasuno. I saw the way you fight, and we would never turn a good fighter like you away. You could really help us out.”

“Maybe,” Daichi assents. “But I wouldn’t want to do anything without talking to Kuroo and Kenma first. Moving away from Shibuya...even though Bokuto’s probably long gone, it still feels wrong.” 

“Of course,” Suga says, trying not to sound disappointed. He isn’t sure what he’s thinking, inviting Daichi back like that….

“But it sounds like a wonderful offer. One I’m tempted to take you up on. Tell me about Karasuno?” 

They spend the rest of the night trading stories about their lives and their friends, and Suga is content.

It happens so quickly. Or maybe it happens in slow motion. But one moment, Suga and Daichi are joking around about who gets the last bite of the granola bar, and the next there’s a zombie chomping down on Daichi’s forearm like he’s a tasty rib at the neighborhood barbecue. Daichi -- or is it Suga? -- yells, and suddenly Daichi slams his walking stick into the zombie, his eyes alight with a fire that Suga might be a little afraid of. He suddenly turns and grabs Suga’s wrist. “We have to go!” To their right, Suga can see the cluster of undead making their way quickly towards them. He feels a little numb as Daichi pulls him down the street and into a building, where he immediately starts barricading the door. 

“Suga, I’ve been bit. We have to take care of it right now,” Daichi says, throwing his backpack to the ground.

“What do I do!?” Suga screeches, his own voice sounding foreign to his ears. Oh god, oh god. The bite on Daichi’s forearm is quickly darkening, and it makes Suga want to cry. 

Daichi still looks fine, but Suga knows that this is how it happens: you get bit, you get a fever, and you turn into one of them. 

“In my bag, I have a knife. I need you to grab it.” Suga drags Daichi’s backpack over and rifles through it, producing the knife. “Now Suga, listen to me. I need you to sharpen the knife and cut my arm off.”

_“What!?”_ Suga shrieks. This is not the plan this is not the plan holy fucking shit this is not --

“Suga! I can’t do it myself!” He locks eyes with Daichi and realizes...no, Daichi really can’t. He looks terrified, horrified, more scared than Suga has ever seen another person. “You have to do this for me. Before it spreads. Now!” 

Suga’s hands are shaking but he feels something rising up in his chest, telling him that he has to do this. Is it...love? It's some kind of affection. Suga doesn’t know exactly, but he wants them both to live long enough to find out. He doesn't want Daichi to be another ghost that he sees when he closes his eyes at night.

“Sharpen the knife. Right,” Suga murmurs, looking around. “On what?” He’s trying not to panic, and he’s not sure his efforts are working.

“Brick. I think. Suga, your bandanas. Give me one,” Daichi says confidently, though Suga can see the fear in his eyes. He unties the bandana on one of his wrists and passes it over. Daichi quickly ties it around his bicep, using his teeth to tighten it. As he works to do that, Suga moves to a jutting-out shelf in the room and tries to sharpen the knife as his vision blurs and his hands shake. He’s sure he only half succeeds, and the edges of the blade are cut to all hell. Once he finishes he walks back over to Daichi on shaky legs.

“Where do I cut?” Suga asks. 

Daichi looks at his arm, then closes his eyes. “The joint. Right where my elbow is. I don’t think you’ll be able to cut through my bone without breaking it first, so the joint is the best place.” 

“Oh god,” Suga whispers. “Okay. Here, take this.” He hands Daichi a shirt from his bag. “To bite down on.” 

With zombies pounding on the door and Daichi staring at him earnestly, Suga presses the blade down on Daichi’s flesh. The resulting scream is the worst thing he’s ever heard, and he immediately retracts the blade.

_“Don’t...stop,”_ Daichi grits out. 

There are tears rolling down Suga’s cheeks as he makes sawing motions with the knife, trying to cut through muscle and tendon. There’s so much blood, gods, and Daichi is screaming like he’s being burned alive. He supposes that the pain might be comparable. Daichi’s arm looks like -- well, it looks like what one might expect it to when someone is hacking at it with a slightly-less-than-dull blade. Suga sobs loudly as he cuts a particularly tough tendon and Daichi screams hoarsely in response. Gods, he wishes someone was here with them right now. As it is, it’s just him and Daichi and the zombies trying to break down the door. 

Blood is pooling everywhere, soaking Suga’s knees. He’s almost done: Daichi’s arm is hanging on by some skin and a few veins, maybe some nerve bundles, and Suga has started murmuring soothing words to his companion to calm them both down. “I’m almost done, Daichi, almost there, you’re doing great, just a few more.” 

“Suga!!” Daichi cries out as he makes another cut, and Suga’s breath rushes out of his lungs as Daichi falls limp, eyes rolling to the back of his head. He panics for a few seconds before realizing that Daichi passed out from the pain, and then immediately thanks any gods looking over them at the moment. He cuts through the rest of Daichi’s arm easily without Daichi thrashing about and immediately turns away to puke. Once his guts are emptied, Suga forces himself to look at Daichi’s bloody stump. 

It’s ugly and rough. Suga had really done a number on it with the knife, and he quietly begins to mourn for his companion. “Oh Daichi,” he cries. Then, just as suddenly as he had passed out, Daichi wakes up. 

“Suga?” He slurs. 

“Daichi?” He seems to be hyperventilating, his breaths coming out in panted gasps and his eyes rolling wildly in his head. A word pops into Suga’s mind. Shock. Daichi’s in shock. He thinks about what Yachi told him about treating shock, like they did with that one woman a few months back. He gently slides Daichi down from against the wall until he’s lying flat on the floor and then quickly moves to his legs. Daichi’s skin is getting cool and clammy, which isn’t good. He grasps onto Daichi’s legs and hoists them into the air by his feet, holding them only a foot or so into the air. 

They stay like that for what feels like forever, but is only an hour or so. At one point, Suga drapes Daichi with their extra clothes and a blanket to try and keep him warm, but after elevating his legs for a while Suga knows that he has to try and clean Daichi’s arm. He’s sure that it’s already infected from the knife (there was no time to boil it), but a milder infection would be preferable to a life-threatening one. Suga sets up as small a fire as he can in the building and uses his flint to start it up. Then he rifles through Daichi’s bag and finds a saucepan, so he holds that over the fire along with some water from his own pack. Once the water is boiling, he takes one of his extra shirts and places it in the water, boiling it for ten or so minutes before setting the saucepan aside. He knows that his hands are covered in Daichi’s blood, so he grabs the small bit of soap he hacked off of a bar at Karasuno and washes his hands as best he can with that and the still-warm water in the saucepan. Then he dumps that water and puts more in it along with the rest of his soap. 

He scoots over to Daichi with the saucepan and shirt and takes a deep breath. “Sorry, Dai,” he says quietly, and then he rips the shirt and dips the smaller part in the saucepan of soap and water before rubbing it onto the outsides of Daichi’s missing limb. Immediately, Daichi is yelling, and Suga is trying not to cry again. “Shh, shh, it’s okay,” he says, moving to straddle Daichi in an attempt to keep him still. Daichi is biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood -- a lot of blood -- so Suga hands him the old shirt again so he can bite down on that. He has to stop halfway through because Daichi’s screams are bringing more of the dead to their door, but he’s fairly happy with the progress they’ve made. Suga takes his water bottle and pours it over Daichi’s wound, hoping it will clean it best it can without any alcohol. Suga has no clue what he’s doing, but he hopes it isn't making things any worse.

He takes the bigger part of the sterilized shirt and wraps it around Daichi’s stump, using the tourniquet bandana as a band to keep the shirt sticking. It quickly wets with blood, but the flow is almost stopped now, which makes Suga sigh with relief. 

For the rest of the day, Daichi is in and out of consciousness, but stays awake long enough to drink water and have a semi-coherent conversation with Suga. 

The next day, he’s sporting a fever. An infection has set in. Suga goes out from the law office to try and find antibiotics. He comes back hours later with nothing more than ibuprofen, which he doesn’t think he should give to Daichi since it’s a blood thinner. 

“You look like shit,” Daichi says when he returns. Daichi’s too weak to go on runs but can still take care of himself, and Suga sees that Daichi was busy finding them water today if the filled bottles are anything to go by. 

“Me?” Suga laughs. “That's saying something, coming from you.” He says it teasingly, but Daichi really does look like shit. A thin sheen of sweat covers his brow and his cheeks are fever-flushed. Dark circles line his eyes, but Suga is sure that he has the same problem. He hasn’t been able to sleep since cutting off Daichi’s arm. 

Suga shrugs off his backpack and approaches Daichi, crouching next to him and placing the back of his hand to Daichi’s forehead. “I think your fever’s a little higher than it was this morning.” 

“That would make sense, seeing as how shitty I feel compared to this morning,” Daichi still has a smile on his face, but it’s a small one. Suga thanks whatever gods are above that Daichi isn’t looking more zombie-like. That means that they acted fast enough, and the bite won’t kill him, just the infection. 

“You shouldn’t have gone out today,” Suga frowns lightly. “But thank you for the water.”

Daichi shrugs with his one good arm. His one arm. “Gotta contribute somehow.” They’re both silent for a moment, lost for words in a situation that’s bleaker than bleak. 

“You should leave me, you know,” Daichi’s voice breaks it, and Suga whips his head to Daichi in confusion. Daichi’s face is impassive, as strong and unmoving as his nature.

“What? Daichi you --”

“I’m nothing but dead weight right now. We both know what’s going to happen. My fever is going to get higher and I’ll get weaker and eventually the infection will kill me. I’m a ticking time bomb here, Suga.” 

“Daichi --”

“You should take some of my things with you for the trip back to Karasuno. Leave me enough to last a few days and --”

“Daichi, _stop!”_ Suga yells a little louder than he means to. Daichi closes his mouth out of surprise. “Stop. I’m not going to leave you, okay?”

Daichi’s eyebrows draw together. “You should.” 

Suga shakes his head, moving even closer to his companion even though they’re already only a few feet away from each other. “You still have to find Kuroo and Kenma, right? We have to get you to them.”

Daichi winces as he shifts positions. “I don't think I’ll be able to go much further, Suga.” 

“Then I’ll bring them to you,” Suga says confidently. 

“Why won’t you just leave me, you stubborn jerk?” Daichi smiles sadly, but Suga can sense the resignation in his tone. Suga always has been particularly gifted at winning arguments. 

“Because you didn’t leave me,” he says simply. Daichi’s face softens considerably at that, but before he can say anything they hear a loud _CRACK!_ from the doorway. The door is holding, but the door frame is splintering. Their time is up. “Come on!” Suga starts packing up their camp, and he shoulders both of their backpacks, helping Daichi to his feet. “Where do we go?” He asks as the door breaks down, and Daichi looks around wildly.

“Up!” He shouts, pointing towards a stairwell, and they make their way to it as fast as possible. The moans of the dead follow them as they take the stairs as quickly as they can. 

“Here?” Suga opens a door to some offices on the second floor, sees that it’s filled with zombies, and immediately slams it shut again. “Nope!” 

They continue up, Daichi slowing and tripping but still going, much to Suga’s amazement. The only place left to go is through a door labeled Roof Access, and once they get up there they sag against each other and slump to the ground, breathing hard from exertion. 

“You okay?” Suga asks. Still too concerned with catching his breath, Daichi waves off his concern as he gulps air. Suga decides to give him a moment and busies himself by surveying the area around their building. The rooftop they’re on is rather short compared to the other buildings around them, but it looks like it could provide them a good place to hang out while they wait for the hoard beneath them to thin out. Where they’ll go after that, Suga isn’t sure, but he knows that he needs to find antibiotics so that he can give Daichi more time. 

He looks at the sky and realizes that he doesn’t have time today before the sun goes down, so he settles next to Daichi, digging the ibuprofen he found from his pocket. “Take this,” he holds it out to him. He figures that in a fight between thin blood and a high fever, Daichi has more of a chance of dying from the fever than from any possible blood loss. Daichi swallows the pills with some water and sighs, loud and long. 

“How are you doing?” Suga asks worriedly. 

When Daichi looks at him, it’s with a quiet resignation. “Just a bit tired,” he says gently. Suga can hear what he really means to say, though. Daichi is dying, and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Suga isn’t sure who he’s consoling here, and based on the look in Daichi’s eyes, it’s not the man who’s dying. Suga feels something sharp twist in his gut. “Let me feel your forehead?” Daichi nods and Suga leans forward slowly, hesitating for only a second before pressing his lips to Daichi’s warming forehead. Even after the medicine his fever is climbing, and he pulls away with a shaky exhale. Before he can retract completely, Daichi’s fingers wrap around his wrist. 

Even though he’s only known Daichi for three days, Suga knows him. He knows what drives him, knows what has kept him from dying all this time. Even down an arm, Daichi is the same that he always was, and Suga still looks to him for guidance. 

“Wait,” Daichi says. Suga does as he commands, sitting on his knees in front of a dying man. They both lean forward and without trumpets blaring or fireworks exploding, just the two of them on a rooftop in the wasteland that used to be called Japan, their lips meeting as two strangers might as they wait for the midnight line. Daichi is saying goodbye but Suga is saying _wait, please, not yet. Don’t leave me alone._

They pull away, Daichi’s eyes crinkled in the corners where his sadness lies heaviest. Suga looks away, suddenly angry. 

“What’s wrong?” Daichi asks the same question he asked the first night they spent in each other’s company. 

Suga abruptly stands. “I’m going to go look for antibiotics.” 

“Suga, it’s too dark out. You won’t be able to see a thing.”

“Then I’ll go find water.” 

“Suga,” Daichi reaches for him as he walks past, and it makes him pause. “Don’t be angry.”

Suga’s shoulders sag. “How can I not be?” He turns to look at Daichi. “You’re giving up.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Suga clenches his fists. “I can see it. I can see you giving up, dammit! Why are you giving up!?” 

Instead of getting angry back at him, Daichi just smiles gently. It’s infuriating. “I’m not, Suga. But I’m not afraid to die.”

Suga looks at him, long and heavy. “Maybe you should be.” He walks off of the roof without looking back.

Suga is gone most of the next day, trying not to think of Daichi’s impending death. He’s afraid that when he comes back he’ll see a zombie wearing Daichi’s face, waiting to attack him. Or maybe he’s afraid that he’ll let it. When he gets back to the roof near sunset, he sees Daichi’s prone form spread out on the roof and he runs to his side, flipping him over and pressing his war to Daichi’s chest. There’s a heartbeat, and Suga lets out a breath he doesn’t know he was holding. 

“Suga?” He snaps his head up to look at Daichi, whose skin has lost any normal coloring to it at all. He’s pale, with bright red circles brightening the apples of his cheeks and purpling bruises underneath his eyes. 

“Daichi,” he says it as an exhale, and Daichi seems to feel his relief. 

“Sorry. I was fine, and then….I wasn’t.” 

“How are you now?” Suga frets. 

“Thirsty?” Suga immediately runs over to his bag and produces a water bottle, bringing it back over to Daichi. The other man is struggling to sit up, but he gratefully takes the water and lets Suga prop him up as he sips. When he finishes, Suga takes the bottle back. 

“Will you continue to look for my friends, after this?” Daichi asks, looking a bit curious. 

Suga looks at him harshly. “Stop.” 

“You should,” Daichi continues, as if Suga hasn’t said anything. “They would take care of you. They’re smart, and strong. They could use someone like you.” 

“Like me?” Suga momentarily forgets his annoyance for the confusion that fills him. 

“Strong. Loyal. Willing to do whatever it takes.” 

Suga lightly smacks Daichi’s good arm, a small grin on his face that makes Daichi look satisfied that he was the one to put it there. “You make me sound like a dog, Dai,” Suga says. “Now go the fuck to sleep. You look like you need it.” 

“Whatever you say, Suga.”

Suga leaves early the next morning to search fruitlessly for antibiotics. He feels like curling up into a ball and crying as he climbs the stairs back to their roof around lunchtime or so, fully expecting to see Daichi lying half-dead on the roof again. What he sees instead makes his blood boil.

There’s a man with dark hair and a hungry frame leaning over Daichi’s unconscious body, peering at him like he’s a piece of meat and the stranger is the lucky lion who happened upon him. Suga hasn’t known Daichi for very long, and he’s sure that in life before the outbreak they would never cross paths or be such easy companions. But this isn’t life before the outbreak. And not only does Suga owe Daichi his life, but he also abhors the idea of seeing his ghost when he closes his eyes. Right now, he’ll fight for what could be. So he musters up the last bit of resolve he has left in him and puts on his fiercest face, sending his scream to the stranger.

_“Get away from him!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Facts!
> 
> \-- Unlikely song I listened to while writing this chapter: [His Cheeseburger](https://youtu.be/EI9yvAx3uCQ) from VeggieTales. This is not relevant to the story at all I just wanted to give you all an excuse to watch the video. (Actually relevant song [here](https://youtu.be/O2T9RH28A5o).)
> 
> \-- I’ve actually seen quite a few arm dissections irl (not amputations -- but it was close a few times), and it looks exactly as you’d expect. Blech.
> 
> \-- Wow I have so many companion pieces I’m working on for this universe including but not limited to Iwaoi and Ukatake. Let me know if you’d be interested in reading these or any other pairings! (The Ukatake story would also feature Tanaka, Noya, Shimizu, Suga, Hinata, and Kageyama!)
> 
> \-- These companion pieces are going to act as writing practice for characters and ships that I’m not very familiar with writing, since the sequel will be told through POVs that aren’t just Akaashi and Bokuto...so feel free to suggest as many pairings/characters as your heart desires! 
> 
> Come cry with me about Daisuga on my [tumblr](https://lessons-from-moths.tumblr.com/)! Also feel free to leave a kudos or comment if you liked this, I respond to all comments! Thank you for your support!! xx


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